Son of Federico de Madrazo y Küntz. Because of his ability and training with his father, Federico and Léon Cogniet, he seemed destined to continue the family tradition of academic painting. However, due to the influence of the Belgian Alfred Stevens, of his brother-in-law, Mariano José Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal, and the Parisian environment, he turned from historical painting for the format of the tableautin, the small, intimate genre painting. He lived in Paris and New York.